At the occasion of the COP 15, Siemens presented the European Green City Index, a study on the environmental sustainability of 30 major cities in 30 European countries in which it emerges that Copenhagen is the “greenest” major city in Europe, followed by Stockholm, Oslo, Vienna, and Amsterdam.
The evaluation of the 30 cities’ achievements and objectives in the area of environmental and climate protection focuses on eight categories: CO2 emissions; energy; buildings; transportation; water; air quality; waste and land use; and environmental governance.
The eight categories are based on 30 individual indicators — 16 of which are quantitative (e.g. consumption of water and energy per capita, recycling rate, and use of public transportation) and 14 qualitative (e.g. CO2 reduction targets, efficiency standards for buildings, and support for environmental protection measures). “As far as possible, the research is based on data from official sources, such as municipal statistics departments and city governments,” said Watson. The study also includes in-depth city portraits that reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each urban center, while also highlighting initiatives and projects from which other cities can learn. “A key element of the study is the comparability of the results from each city — within both the individual categories and in the overall evaluation,” added Watson.
“Our analysis indicates that European cities are leaders in environmental performance. In particular, almost all of the 30 cities — which are home to a total of nearly 75 million inhabitants — average lower per capita CO2 emissions than EU countries,” said James Watson, managing editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit and the editor of the study. The best city in this category, Oslo, emits only 2.5 tons of CO2 per capita and per year, far less than the EU average of 8.5 tons. What’s more, almost all of the cities have already developed and partially implemented an environmental strategy. “All of the cities face formidable challenges, however. For example, renewable sources of energy currently account for only around seven percent of these cities’ energy supply, which is significantly under the target of 20 percent set by the EU for 2020,” said Watson. Furthermore, the average share of waste that is recycled is less than 20 percent, while one in four liters of water is wasted through leakage.
Scandinavian cities generally achieve high scores. Awareness of environmental protection in these cities has been strong for years, which is reflected in the cities’ ambitious climate targets. Copenhagen, for example, aims to be carbon free by 2025. In Scandinavian countries, GDP per capita income is above average, and these wealthy countries have invested substantially in environmental protection. So far, Eastern European cities generally rank lower. This is largely due to a comparatively low gross domestic product and historic burdens, including the lack of attention paid to environmental protection in previous decades. In particular, high energy consumption in buildings and outdated infrastructures reflect this. In the area of public transportation, however, Eastern European cities often score above average: Kiev, which is ranked 30th overall, is estimated to have the highest percentage of people using public transportation to commute.
The European Green City Index is the third Siemens study to date in the Sustainable Urban Infrastructures series — after sustainability reports on London and Munich. “With this analysis we are once again underscoring our commitment to helping cities with their climate protection measures,” said Achatz. “After all, they play a key role, given that they are responsible for 80 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities today.” Siemens’ environmental portfolio makes it an ideal partner for the implementation of climate-friendly infrastructure solutions. In fiscal 2009, the company generated about €23 billion in revenue with the products and solutions of its environmental portfolio. That is approximately 30 percent of its total annual revenue.
In the night before Christmas, you left your gadget wish-list. Now it’s time to see what tech toys you actually unwrapped! Who got a new RAZR? How about an Apple IIe or TRS-80? Maybe a 32 MB Compact Flash card?!?
I spent a lot of time searching for the perfect photo for my blog to wish everyone a beautiful, joyous, holiday season. I kept finding gorgeous photos of Christmas trees. There were lots of photos with Santa, ornaments, candles, and poinsettias. I wanted my photo to be perfect for everyone, no matter what holiday traditions they celebrated.
A very giving Santa Claus seems to have already visited Italian race car driver Davide Vlasecchi this year. The 22-year old has been signed by iSport International for the remainder of the GP2 Asia series as well as for the full upcoming GP2 championship.
The 2011 Kia Sorento will arrive in dealerships across the United States in January with pricing to start at $20,790 for the base model equipped with 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and manual transmission. On the other hand, the most expensive version will come with a price tag of $29,690 and features a 3.5-liter six-cylinder engine and automatic transmission.